This invention relates to a stringed simulator which is intended to enable a player to practice both right hand plucking and left hand fingering which closely simulates practice on a corresponding full-size stringed instrument, such as a classical guitar.
There are many previous inventions for practicing stringed instruments. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,112, 084 (Cecchini) discloses an apertured sound chamber having strings stretched over the aperture for right hand fingering. A fingerboard is accommodated between the sound chamber and the strings, as well as a removable fret board which can be placed between the sound chamber and strings for left hand fingering.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,801 (Cecchini) discloses an elongate member having frets on one side with an apertured sounding box on the other which can be used for plucking or strumming.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,218,904 (Hartman) discloses a guitar neck wherein the strings and frets of a guitar are simulated by permanent ridges which contain color coded identification for several particular chords. This device is intended for beginning students and for left hand technique only.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,240 (Laselva, et al.) discloses a hollow box with a bridge and one or more elastic bands mounted on the box with portions stretched over the bridge to illustrate the physics involved in the production of sound and tonal quality.
While all of these devices permit the creation of music in some fashion, none of the known prior art devices enable the serious player to replicate or simulate the precise techniques a serious player must master. Specifically, the prior art does not disclose an instrument which offers simultaneous right and left hand practice. There is no disclosure of training devices having shapes and designs which duplicate the exact dimensions of a full-size instrument in neck width, string spacing, contour, and feel. These devices also fail to simulate the exact size, contour, and feel of a standard full-size guitar neck and do not provide a place for resting the left hand thumb when chording or practicing left hand finger reach.